#17 Praying for peace doesn't mean praying for inaction.

In response to my last post, a friend of mine called me.  He is a pastor of a church and his community was going to do a prayer vigil for peace in the Syrian conflict.  This pastor, one of my few readers, is a very practical person.  He wondered to me, "Is praying for peace really just praying for no bombing?"

I think that is a fantastic question and one everyone should be asking.  Is praying for peace really just praying that no further violence is perpetrated by our country on another?  Is prayer for peace really just asking to blindly turn the other cheek?  My response to him was obviously, "No! Not at all!"  But something rings true about what he said.  In a practical sense, "turn the other cheek" seems like a poor way to solve conflict.

Praying for peace is about solving conflict, not just praying for no more violence or war.  Praying for peace is praying that people can figure out creative and non-violent ways to resolve conflict.  Walter Wink, an amazingly smart scholar, talks about how there is a third way to react to conflict, violence and injustice.  The first way is to respond with violence.  This tends to grow and grow until someone decides that nuking the entire planet because we don't agree is ridiculous.  The second way is the way too many people talk about turning the other cheek, which is to do nothing.  The third way is to turn the other cheek in a way that exposes the inhuman, violent actions without using violence yourself.  It might seem shameful to you at the time, but in the end it will show the sinful injustice of the other person(s).

It reminds me of those theatrical protests that happened in the sixties.  And by reminds me of, I mean reminds me of pictures I've seen and stories I've read/heard because I was born during the Reagan administration.  I think of the people who in an over the top fashion would stick a flower in the riot police officers' gun barrels.  It was if they were saying you should trade your weapon for something a little bit friendlier!  It's brilliant, and I think it is Abbie Hoffman's work.  I'm not sure.

Praying for peace isn't praying that people turn the other cheek or don't try to do something about the use of chemical weapons in Syria.  It is asking for conflict resolution in a non-violent way, without any threat of bombing to stop bombing. Instead negotiating and exposing injustice through thought provoking and  nonviolent action. When we pray for peace, we should also pray that we can be courageous enough to be instruments of creating the peace.

If you want to read some Walter Wink, I would advise, The Powers that Be.  It is an accessible writing about his thoughts on the powers of the world.  Also, it seems you could read, Jesus and the Nonviolence: A Third Way.  I've not read it, yet, but seems completely to the point.